9 Free Agents the Cavs can STILL sign – Cleveland Cavaliers News

9 Free Agents the Cavs can STILL sign – Cleveland Cavaliers News

All right, so today I want to go over a few of the remaining free agents who I think are at least somewhat interesting for the Cavs. Now, to get a few things out of the way at the start, the Cavs, they currently have two roster spots open and because of salary cap limitations, they’re only really able to fill those spots with these veteran minimum contracts. So, don’t expect a big splash here, right? There’s no one that exciting available. And even if they were, the Cavs would have the money to sign anyone crazy. So, typically the Cavs also like to roll into the season with only 14 players on the roster instead of the full 15. Uh, and that’s just so that they have some extra flexibility moving forward throughout the year. So, when you get to February and the buyout market, you’ll have that open roster spot to make a change. So, I would only expect the Cavs to add one more player to the roster this summer. Uh, at least that’s where we are right now in free agency. Who knows what could change if they make any trades in the future. But for right now, for this video, I picked nine free agents who are still available. Um, and I’m just going to roll down my list very quickly and give you my thoughts on each one. Before I get into my list, please consider hitting that subscribe button, dropping a like, and leaving me a comment with who you want the Cavs to sign in free agency. And getting this started, let’s talk about our first option, Kevin Love. Now, Love isn’t actually a free agent right now, but he’s expected to be bought out by the Utah Jazz at some point this summer. And when that happens, if Kevin Love doesn’t decide to just retire altogether, then a return to Cleveland would make a lot of sense for both parties. Now, of course, his departure from the Cavs last time wasn’t exactly pretty. I don’t know how much bad blood there is potentially between Kobe Alman and Kevin Love, but as far as his connection to the city of Cleveland and the fans, that relationship should still be intact, I think. Right. I think most Cavs fans are still Kevin Love fans and most people would probably welcome a return even if it’s just for sentimental value, right? Because let’s keep it real, Kevin Love probably not going to be counted on to bring too much oncourt value this season and moving forward through his career, right? This would be the type of situation where you’re just looking to add a veteran leader. You’re looking for someone who has won a championship before. They can boost morale. They’ll bring all of those locker room intangibles that we hear about, right? And I wouldn’t completely write him off as a contributor on the court altogether, right? At least in the regular season, I do think Kevin Love, he can still rebound, he can still pass a little bit, he can set screens, and even though his shooting hasn’t been that great in recent years, he’s hovering around 34, 35%. I do still think Kevin Love is a floor spacing big who teams respect him from the three-point line. Opponents will still defend him and that matters. So, would he play in the playoff rotation? Probably not. I don’t think Kevin Love is playing a meaningful role on the court on a championship contending team at this point. But if I had to choose between bringing back Tristan Thompson, for example, or going with Kevin Love this time, I think Kevin Love would probably be more helpful on the court. So, the other big on this list who I think would actually be the closest thing to making a splash that the Cavs could do at this point would be signing Al Horford. Uh, I honestly have no idea what’s going on with Al Horford at this point. It sounds like the Warriors thought they were going to sign him at the start of free agency, but now it’s July 21st and he’s still on the market. So, like I said, I have no idea what’s going on without Horford. I would assume that he’s not going to sign for the veteran minimum. I think even at 39 years old, he’s still valuable enough to get a little bit more money on the market because Al Horford, he is a player who can do everything you want in today’s NBA. He checks all of those boxes for a role player. He’s a big who rebounds. He can shoot threes. He can pass the ball. He can post up smaller players, punish mismatches. He can defend multiple players. Like, hey, if you’re a Cavs fan, I don’t have to tell you. You’ve seen Big Al move his feet on the perimeter against Darius Garland the last few years. And so, this dude can still flat out move. And so, if I can just summarize Al Horford very quickly. Uh, if the Cavs picked him up for the minimum as a backup big next to Mobly and Allen, that would be fantastic. It would it would probably be my favorite move that the Cavs have made all summer if they were able to pull that off. The next guy on my list is only here because the Cavs have been linked to him recently in some reports and that would be Victor Oladipo. Now, apparently Oladipo is trying to make a comeback to the NBA. Uh, and the Cavs were one of a few teams who watched him work out in Las Vegas this last week. And so, to just kind of recap what’s been going on with Olad Depot the last few years, if you haven’t paid attention, he last played NBA basketball in 2023. The last time Olad Depot played more than 42 games in a season was 2018. The Cavs still had LeBron James at that point. We played him in the playoffs. I’m sure you guys remember. And so it’s just been this stack of injuries that have been piling up. And that would make me very concerned about signing Oladipo to be honest with you. Like look, if he was healthy and if he was even a fraction of the player that he used to be, then yeah, like you’re getting one hell of a two-way player. He’s a little undersized at 6’3, but he’s got that 6’9 wingspan to make up for it. He’s a fiery competitor. Like this dude plays with such an extreme intensity, but he doesn’t really play anymore is the problem, right? Like he’s not available. And so unless Olad Depot can just completely shock the world and make, you know, a truly historic comeback at 33 and I’ I’d be good with the Cavs just passing on this, right? Like I don’t think that that’s a gamble they need to take. I’m wishing him nothing but the best. I hope he manages to make it back. Uh I just don’t think that the Cavs should be the ones to take that lottery ticket. And speaking of unnecessary gambles, to transition to my next guy, I also don’t think Ben Simmons is worth the risk either. And look, I’d be more willing to bet on this now. Uh because Ben Simmons actually did play a little bit last year for the Clippers and he was more effective than I would have thought he would be. Uh he’s still 6’10 at the end of the day. He can still dribble the ball. He can playmake. He’s not a horrible defender, right? And he’s still a little athletic. He can rebound. He can basically be your backup power forward and your backup point guard all at the same time. And if you’re the Cavs, that’s a sweet skill set to have. And the problem is this dude still has a lot to prove. And to me, he’s just never struck me as the type of player or the type of person who really cares about proving anything, if that makes sense. Like I trust that Ola Depot is doing everything he possibly can to get back and play in today’s NBA. Whereas Simmons, he just seems very nonchalant about his career, right? And maybe I’m making a bad assumption. Maybe I’m being cynical. Um, of course, I’m coming from a fully outside perspective. I don’t know the dude personally, but I do think there’s enough evidence with how his career’s played out to justify why I’m a little bit worried about signing Ben Simmons. But again, I will say like listen, if he’s healthy and if he even cares just a little bit, he fits in perfectly with the Cavs need on their bench. So, I understand why Cavs fans get excited about the idea of Ben Simmons. Like I said, he’s your backup big and your backup point guard all at the same time. It’s very easy to see how he fits in with this team. I just don’t personally believe in it. Now, since I’ve already talked about two injury-prone players, we also have to keep in mind the Cavs have Lonzo Ball on the roster as well. This next guy I’m adding to the list purely because listen, it’s an 82 game season. It’s a long season, and someone is going to have to eat some innings, right? Someone is going to have to come in, clean the bathrooms, and play 25 minutes against the Charlotte Hornets on a random Wednesday night. And if there’s any free agent who is still available and who is willing to play 110% no matter the game, no matter the night, it would be Russell Westbrook. Now, do I want Russell Westbrook in the playoff rotation? Let me be very clear on this. No, I don’t think you want to play Russell Westbrook in the playoffs if you’re serious about winning a championship. Do I think he fits next to Donovan Mitchell and Darius Garland all that well? No, I don’t really think that either. But would Russell Westbrook help you get through the regular season and provide some much needed intensity? I think the answer is yes. Westbrook, he’ll run like hell. He’ll rebound. He’ll drive and cut hard to the hoop. He’ll exert energy on defense. He might not be even a good defender. That might be generous even calling him a good defender, but he will generate steals. He will generate chaos on the basketball court. And I think he’s both a floor razor and a floor sinker if he’s on your team. But this dude is durable as hell, right? And that’s my main selling point here is that you need someone like that. With how much of today’s NBA feels like a battle of attrition, with how many injury concerns this Cavs roster has, you might need someone like Russell Westbrook who can be durable as hell and play at such a high level of intensity throughout the regular season. Again, don’t need him in the playoffs, right? But you could use him in the regular season. So Westbrook, he’s not at the top of my list by any means. And also, for the record, this list wasn’t in any particular order. I’m just going down it randomly, but I could see a clearer path for Russell Westbrook to actually help this team than someone like Ben Simmons or Olad Depot just because I think he would actually be available, right? And so the last guard that I have on this list is a former six-man of the year. Uh somewhat forgotten rookie of the year. It’s Malcolm Brogden. Now availability again is definitely a big concern for Brogden. Not as much as Simmons or even Lonzo Ball in all honesty, but Brogden, he’s played fewer than 40 games in three of his last four seasons. He only played 24 games last year and he is about to be 33 years old. So, I don’t know how much you could rely on Brogden and all things considered there. But, if he was healthy, then he’s a very steady backup point guard who can help you run the show on any given night, right? He’s a very efficient playmaker. He takes great care of the ball. He’s a career 38% three-point shooter. And I think you can reasonably trust Brogden to be out there in basically any setting. He’s not your best point of attack defender, but he’s passable and functionally Brogden, he’s just a really good fit with this team again because you do want someone who can fill in throughout the regular season. Lonzo Ball is going to miss games. Darius Garland’s going to miss games. Donovan Mitchell is going to miss games. The problem is if Brogden is your guy who comes in and fills in, then you might also need another guy who can fill in for Brogden. And so there’s really no winning here at the guard position with these remaining free agents. And then lastly, I have one more player who I want to, you know, actually talk about kind of in depth. And then I want to do two quick shout outs before we get to that. So Trey Lyles and Bismac Biombo. Neither one of them would excite me all that much. I think Lyles would excite me a little bit more. But both of them are serviceable backup bigs who I think would be good for the Cavs at a minimum. I think the Cavs, they really need some better screen setting. They need more front court depth in general. Uh Larry Nance Jr. helps in that regard, but I think one more big body would go a long way. And so Lyles and Bombo, am I like raving about them? Am I pushing for it? Not necessarily. But I think if we added either one of them, it’d be a good move for the Cavs. The last player who I want to talk about is another backup big, and I want to focus in on him a little bit more specifically because Thomas Bryant kind of surprised me last year. He played a very small role in Indiana’s run to the finals. He only played eight minutes per game, but when I watched their run, he had a few stints where I was like, dude, is Thomas Bryant, not only is he actually like staying on the floor, but is he a positive right now? Is he winning his minutes? It was crazy. And so, look, he’s a 610 big. He shot 50% from three in the playoffs. It was only like one attempt per game, but there’s a little bit of shooting there that has translated to a finals run, like I said, in a very small role. He can move his feet a little bit. He’s kind of athletic. He can rebound. He can set screens a little bit. And for someone who’s going to be at the back end of your rotation, that’s not a bad option to have. That’s a decently versatile guy to have as your 14th member of the team, right? Like if Bryant is the fourth big behind Allen, Mobly, and Nance, that’s a pretty solid front court rotation for the Cavs. So again, at this point in the summer with only, you know, the veteran minimum slots to fill, none of these guys are going to be huge needle movers. None of these guys are going to be that crazy to add to your roster. But Bryant would be one of the better options you could find here. So, let me know in the comments if you agree or disagree with anything that I said. Is there a free agent out there who I forgot that you think I should have mentioned? Please drop a like and don’t forget to subscribe. And with all that being said, go Cavs. [Music]

Here are nine players the Cavs could still sign in free agency

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